St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-07
AMONG THE HORSES.
Death of Richard Richards, of Racine, the
Best-Known Horse Breeder in
the Northwest.
Interesting Description of Speed Contest
Between the Cities of Paribault
and Northfeld.
L. Il. Marrett Makes Several Pur-
chases of speedy Animals For
His Stock Farm.
w. w. Bair In st. Paul. cCarthy,
With His Trotters, VIII Go
TO Indiana.

Richard Richards, of Racine, Wis,
the oldest horse breeder in the Northwest,
died at his home in Racine on the 2Sth day
of February last and was buried on Tues
day, March l. For nearly or quite forty
wears he has been breeding horses in the
city of Racine, and at tie time OF his death
he was undoubtedly the most extensively
known breeder in the Northwest. Among
the first horses that he owned, and one Of
the most celebrated, was Richards Bell
founder. Subsequently Mr. Richards
bought Swigert from Il. y. Alexander
when a colt, and still owned him
when he died Mr.. Richards has also
owned many other valuable stallionS,
such as Alden Goldsmith. by Vol
unteer. dam by RySdyk'S Hambletonan, and
Pluto by W edgwood, dam Primrose. dam OF
rincepS. The principal horse. though, that
he relied upon for the success OF his breed
inc venture was Swigert, by Norman, dam
Blandina. He bought him when year
ling of Mr.. Alexander and died his owner.
OF late years Swigert, vino is now about
twenty Years OF age. has greatly improved
in public estimation Is breeder Of fast
stock and is putting quite number of his
sons and daughters into the $50 list. About
ten wears ago some of the breeders in Min
nesota. especially in st. Paul, took great
fancy 10 the Swigert stock and purchased
large quantities of il. Among these
were q. \. b. Shave, r. Barden and
George W. Sherwood. Mr.. Shave was the
lirst 10 introduce the Swigert stock TO st.
Paul people Generally speaking the stock
was large. strong looking, and possessed of
good trotting movements. The mares es-
pecially were of this description, and even
now are very highly esteemed as brood
mares. Many 90 50 far as to express the
belief that there are few mares even now
that are better for breeding purposes than
the Swigerts. The late X. Barden bought
a large number of Swigerrs from Mr.. Rich
ards. one Will be specially remembered by
horSemen here who saw him
TROT IN ST. PAUL,
Saltwater and Minneapolis. and that was
Richard Il. He was a large black gelding,
years of age, probably 1873 high and
weighing about l, 100 pounds. He had not
received much training when Mr.. Barden
got him. but he had a natural and very
courageous way of going, with good knee
action. As a green horse no trotted in
about 2:34, and gave very satisfactory indi-
cations of going a good deal faster. I'm
fortunately he took cold and died very sud-
denly at Mr.. Barden's residence on Maria
avenue. Mr.. Barden also had Western
Chief from Mr.. Richards. He was not by
Swigert, though. Mr.. Sherwood, among
many others, got Baymont and Walter Fer
lis from Mr.. Richards Even to this day
MI Sherwood values very highly the Swigert
mares as brood mares and has considerable
number of them on his breeding farm
which he keeps continually i'll use. George
Graves, of Rochester, and many others in
Minnesota, own some of this SWigert stock.
The deceased was up here in StPaul about
ten years ago at one of the state fairs, and
while here manifested great interest in the
success Of the fair and the award of pre-
miums. AT that time a good deal of dissat-
iSfactiOn was exhibited because the judges
awarded the first premium TO Western
Chief, which Mr.. Barden had bought of
Mr. Richards, over De CRAFTS Alexander.
Alexander was hitched to a Sulky and
driven up and down the track in front of
the grand stand, while Western
Chief was exhibited to halter and
wass simply led out upon the
track. Of course there was no disputing
the award, and everybody was bound to
stand by it and acquieSce i'll it, and did SO,
but it caused a widespread feeling that
great injustice had been done, and the
feeling lasted for many years. Alexander
was Immediately taken TO Mr.. De CRAFTS
stock farm, where he remained for several
years before he again saw st. Paul. Mr.
Richards was about 20 years of age when
he died, and through long career Of deal
ingS with horSemen of all kinds in selling
his stock he maintained an excellent repu-
tatiOn for honesty and iutegrty